Project TALENT is a large-scale, long-term educational research project being carried out at the American Institutes for Research. Original TALENT data, consisting of a comprehensive set of demographic, cognitive, interest, and sociopsychological measures were collected in 1960 from a nationally representative sample of 375,000 students in grades 9-12. Talent participants were then resurveyed one, five, and eleven years out of high school in an effort to follow the progress of their personal and professional lives. The present study analyzes data from Project TALENT to document the antecedents of high achievement, consequences of high achievement potential, and reasons behind failure to realize achievement potential in the U.S. Particular attention is being paid to sex differences in these achievement-related antecedents and consequences. The study draws on the full range of TALENT longitudinal data, as it sketches the demographic, cognitive, and sociopsychological profile while in high school, and the educational, occupational, marital, and childbearing experiences since leaving high school, of men and women in various quartiles of achievement potential and actual achievement.